1. The Fall of Order

September 17th, 2015

10:15 AM

The crowd that had gathered in the cafeteria was reaching a frenzy the likes of which Hanson High School had never seen in its fifty year history. Despite only being the first month of school, these students were angry. They had all gathered to that spot unintentionally, only looking to gripe and vent to their closest friends. But it was the young man standing on a table in the middle of the cafeteria that was bringing the anger held by the students into a physical form.

“We’ve dealt with this farce long enough!” cried the young man into his megaphone, “Why should we stand for the corruption and assume it’s inevitable?!”

The young man adjusted his yellow ball cap and turned to another section of the crowd, “The School Board knew exactly what they were doing when they picked a principal so young, so inexperienced, and so out of touch with the world. Our principal is a puppet, led on by the School Board and the administration in this school! They don’t care at all about the students, only their paychecks! We have issues all around our school, and yet the administration focuses on their own vanity! The School Board focuses only on making money! How can we trust and rely on people who don’t even know who we are?! We aren’t students in their eyes, we’re a statistic! If that’s how our ‘superiors’ want to be, then we should take care of ourselves! Forget the school, and its rules! We shall do whatever we WANT! I, Zhane Jones, will bring change to this schoo!l Let us go forth and DESTROY the current system!”

With each sentence, the crowd grew more and more raucous. Upon hearing the final words, the crowd burst into a large cry of rebellion and flooded into the halls of the school. Yelling could be heard in every area of the building, due to a combination of rebelling students disrupting classes in search of others to join the cause, as well as a slew of teachers and security attempting to quell the disturbance. Their efforts were unsuccessful however, as more and more students joined in the mini-uprising that was taking place. The principal, seeing the commotion, closed and locked the office door, and cowered behind his desk.

September 31st, 2015

8:00 AM

For two weeks, schoolwork had come to a standstill. News of the rebellion had been kept quiet by the School Board, for fear that they might lose their jobs and paychecks, so no repercussions had been given to a single person. The rebels, who had taken to wearing yellow caps to emulate their leader, had taken up positions in the hallways to harass any student that didn’t sport the Yellow Ball Cap insignia. The normal students had suffered greatly during those two weeks at the hands of the Yellow Ball Caps. Even the teachers, looked upon as absolute power to their students, could do nothing at the sheer force of the Ball Caps’ capabilities. The teachers were met with mockery, harassment, or even physical violence if any tried to speak up against the rebellion. The balance of power had certainly shifted with one movement.

The principal, however, was completely unaware of the situation. Isolated in his office, he had trusted his administrators to handle affairs with the students. But the administrators desired the money and amenities given to their positions much more than actually helping anyone. Daily they would give false reports to the principal informing him that the rebellion was much smaller than it truly was, and that it would be taken care of completely very soon. Satisfied with the word of his ten trusted employees, the principal spent each day in his office watching videos on his computer.

Laurence Benson spent those two weeks lamenting his position. He was a brand new teacher, having accepted a job right after finishing his student teaching. He was known as a kind and friendly teacher who had great results early on, but the rebellion had ruined all chances of education for the students. He knew that the situation needed to be fixed so the students wouldn’t have to suffer, but wondered what he could do alone, being the newest teacher in the school. He was lamenting on this topic as well on that very day when he arrived at his classroom and noticed a group of students waiting for him.

“Mr. Benson, what do you make of this?” asked Zachary Fenner, the biggest and strongest of the group. He held in his large hand a pamphlet in written in deep red. “This pamphlet is being passed around the whole school! It says that courage is needed to end this turmoil and that students and teachers all need to do their part.”

Laurence took the pamphlet and read it to himself, “Yes, I agree. Now is a time for action. I am no longer indecisive on the matter. We shall make our own band to counter the Yellow Ball Caps!” When he looked back to the group of students, they were all on their knees, heads bowed. Zachary was the first to speak up, “We will follow you then, Mr. Benson. We will support you and follow your orders to crush the Yellow Ball Caps! Wait here, I must get my closest friend to join. He has, like me, been looking for someone who is serious about this fight!” With this, the tall, brown-haired Zachary ran off towards another hallway. He returned shortly with a student as big and as intimidating as himself. “I am Greg Young,” the dark-haired giant stated, “My brother has told me of you, but I now see with my own eyes how his words did no justice to your greatness. I shall serve you as well as I can.”

The excitement on the faces of the students filled Laurence with confidence and joy. “Very well,” he called to the raucous band, “we shall make sure we end this meaningless tyranny! Let us defeat these Yellow Ball Caps for good!”